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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22583083">Back to the Beginning</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mountainglade/pseuds/mountainglade'>mountainglade</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Overwatch (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, it's totally ashe but d.va doesn't know that yet, just two gals playing vr video games</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 11:13:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,169</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22583083</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mountainglade/pseuds/mountainglade</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>D.Va takes a day off of streaming to play a video game. This mysterious person she meets surely won't have a massive impact on her life, right? </p><p>Prequel/reboot kinda? to "Stealing Stars"</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Elizabeth Caledonia Ashe/Hana "D.Va" Song</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>All around her she could hear the sounds of armed conflict, the sharp report of gunfire and gut-tightening explosions indicating the battle raged around her. She could hear voices over the radio, a cacophony of reports and requests for help, some dreadfully cut short. Her own squad had fallen long ago, but she had no time to mourn their loss as she picked her away across the ruins of what was likely once an apartment building. Hana appeared to be in something like the eye of the storm, isolated from the danger on every side, unable to find a single soul whether friend or foe.</p><p>It was<em> boring</em>, and she picked up the pace, hoping to run headlong into danger. Briefly she considers streaming, but resists the urge; this was supposed to be one of her days off, she deserved to play a game anonymously every now and then. Besides, streaming a VR game was always annoying with the thirsty guys in the chat begging for a facecam, which meant ruining her immersion with a camera on a headband. </p><p>
  <em>Of course, I’m ruining my own immersion right now anyway.</em>
</p><p>With a shake of her head to try to clear her thoughts, she presses on, tightening her grip on the rifle. She paused behind a low brick wall, peeking over it carefully — just because she didn’t see or hear anyone didn’t mean she was safe, after all. You didn’t get more than ten hours into <em>War Zone 5</em> without knowing that. Her eyes scan the area, checking the buildings lining the street, looking for anything that might be danger.</p><p>There. A glint. She barely had time to duck back down before she heard a shot impact the rubble near her. A sniper, of course; there were always too many of them in shooter games, because it’s easy to shoot someone from a safe distance. She feigns peeking again, grinning as another shot misses. Most sniper rifles in this game had about 6 shots, so if she could get them to waste about four more, she could rush while they reloaded, and hopefully they weren’t a good shot with a sidearm.</p><p>Her own ammo count wasn’t great, so she didn’t even consider any kind of suppressing fire; not that she had anyone with her to make that work, anyway. Not for the first time, she wished she had <em>Tokki</em> in this game, but of course that wouldn’t be fair. She had the utmost respect for infantry, but she felt crippled without being able to activate her boosters or her defense matrix. </p><p>Another shake of her head and a steadying breath to try to focus. She feigns another peek, then immediately breaks for some rubble ahead on her right, diving behind a wall and crawling to get herself out of the sniper’s sight. As expected, a chunk of pavement is blown from the street as the shooter just barely misses her. Hana briefly considers asking for someone to help, but silences her radio. She’d faced worse challenges than this; maybe she’d throw the clip of her taking the sniper down into a montage.</p><p>She rose into a squat, slowing her breathing. Just three more shots, and then she could get into the sniper’s building and figure out the next part. She broke again, scrabbling across the road; this time the shot was so close she didn’t even know how near it was, just that debris from the impact hit her mid-stride. Hana squashed an instinctual panic; dude just got lucky with how close he was, plus she had to run almost laterally across a road. An easier shot than her last movement.</p><p>Even so, she threw a chunk of rubble in the opposite direction she broke, hoping to distract the shooter briefly and increase her chances of success. It seemed to have worked, because there was no shot this time. Hana chuckled, hitting the clip button to record the past few moments; the sniper might have saved a shot, but the rifle wouldn’t do any good up when Hana got up close and personal.</p><p>She heard a gunshot, and then everything went black. </p><p>Hana swore loudly (another reason to not be streaming) and watched as the game showed her the killcam of her death. Whoever it was, they didn’t have a sniper rifle — a third party had taken her out? Then she realized that was <em>her</em> down there, the pink and blue speck moving from cover to cover. The sniper had been using an un-scoped rifle to fire at her so accurately? Her anger melted into begrudging admiration and respect, but it didn’t explain how she’d been beaten. She was behind cover when she’d died, so how did they do it?</p><p>Through the killcam she watched her foe look down, taking a grenade and lobbing it towards Hana’s location. Her jaw dropped as she saw her attacker raise the rifle and fire, manually detonating the explosive right over her — not even Hana could land that kind of shot. Immediately she opened up the social menu, shooting a friend request to the crack shot who’d bested her. <em>Calam1ty</em>… a strange username, but maybe it meant something to the person it represented. Hana was no judge; she still held onto “D.Va” from her <em>Mecha Guardian V</em> days.</p><p>Once the request was sent, Hana took the VR gear off, shaking her hair back into place, adjusting her glasses, and wiping sweat from her brow. A spoken request in her native tongue had the lights in the VR room brighten, allowing her to see the doorway — she always needed a shower after a <em>War Zone</em> session, be it because of the physical exertion or the high stakes stress or both. Still, she couldn’t get this Calam1ty out of her head… she needed to know if they were routinely that good, or if it was luck. </p><p>Yes, a rematch, that was what Hana wanted — a chance to regain her honor, and maybe make a new friend. She smiled, eager for the chance to face such a challenge again.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Hiding From Your Own Mind</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Some time has passed since our leading ladies met in a video game, and Ashe tries to chill out but accomplishes only the opposite. Takes place not long before the Reunion animated short.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This one feels weak, but the only reason I'm even posting here is to kinda force myself not to abandon stuff and power through my lack of confidence in order to improve, so apologies. I usually write unrelated short stories, but I suppose every work has a few weak chapters. Anyway, happy Femslash February!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She tosses the shot glass against the wall, shattering the vessel and covering the floor with glass shards. Most of the people in the room flinched at the sound or at her display of frustration, though to her the sound of destruction was a comfort. Elizabeth blew out a sharp breath, reaching up to fidget with the brim of her hat as she took a seat at the long table. Resisting the urge to blast the squeaking ceiling fan, she focused her attention on the individual who’d flared her anger — a middle-aged man, Sean Hayes, who’d been with the gang for a few years. “You know how I feel about failure, Hayes. Did you at least find his trail? He’s not exactly the subtle sort.”</p><p> </p><p>Sean ran a hand through his short brown hair, giving away his nervousness before he’d even decided on what to say. “Well, we’ve got a few leads, and I’ve put my best on the case, but there’s nothing, no sign of him just yet,” he says, brown eyes brightening for a moment. “Perhaps I could reach out to Kit? We’re not the only ones looking for McCree; perhaps if we worked together—”</p><p> </p><p>Elizabeth cut him off with a glance, lip curling in disgust at the mention of the Deadlock Gang’s temporary ally. “Let’s not give them the impression we can’t handle our own business, but I appreciate you being eager to clean house, Hayes.” She grabs a drink from the table, not caring whose it was, and downs the whiskey in one take, wiping her mouth in a way that would’ve gotten her a talkin’ to if her mother were around. “Get back out there, take Bars — I think they want to get even with our wayward cowboy as well.”</p><p> </p><p>With a wave of her hand she dismissed him, rising from her seat and scanning the room as Hayes left to find the omnic sharpshooter. “The rest of you report to B.O.B, and keep working on the preparations.” She spun on her heel and left the lounge, squinting at the bright Arizona sun as she marched towards her home in the hideout they’d made. It wasn’t much, far smaller than she’d prefer, but there was only so much they could do without straining the camouflage tech that kept people off their doorstep, and so far nobody was able to figure out the tech enough to try tinkering with it.</p><p> </p><p>Elizabeth pushed thoughts like that out of her mind as she entered her place, locking the door to secure her some downtime. Her hat and jacket found their place on a stand near the door, the rest of her outfit finding their way to a laundry basket while more comfortable and less restrictive clothing take their place, the last vestiges of her carefully cultivated appearance gone. That wasn’t to say that she was putting on a act as Calamity Ashe, leader of the Deadlock Gang, but she did have to be the tough leader who her gang could look up to. Sometimes she had to let her hair down — or up, in this case, in a small ponytail to help keep cool in the Arizona summer.</p><p> </p><p>She tried not to think of the many mansions her mother and father owned, the large estates she’d grown up in and how small this house was in comparison. It had plenty of room and she never found herself wishing for more space, but it still felt strange, and she’d had plenty of reason to think about her earlier years as of late. She flopped on her bed, feeling a bit of stress slip from her tense muscles as the mattress supported her. She pulls out her phone, entering the passcode and smiling as she saw her message notifications.</p><p> </p><p>Elizabeth had no intentions of making an acquaintance, much less a long distance friend, when she played a session of <em>War Zone 5,</em> the latest in the yearly hit series of VR shooter games. Yet afterward, she’d gotten a message from someone she’d defeated using a trick she usually pulled in real life. The Deadlock leader had gotten plenty of such messages asking to be shown how to pull it off and usually she ignored them, but this one… something compelled her to respond. So she had, and in the months since, she had befriended Hana — learning that she was <em>the </em>D.Va was a shock, but Elizabeth had the privilege of knowing she’d beaten her at least once, a feat she hadn’t been able to repeat in any game they’d played since. Her eyes skim the messages, particularly the last one.<br/><em><br/>We should hang in person sometime! Money is no issue, y’know? </em>😉 <br/><br/>Elizabeth’s heart soared at the idea, but immediately was pulled back to Earth by the gravity of her responsibilities to the Deadlock Gang — and by extension recently, Talon. She had no idea what Talon’s greater plan was, but they needed the Deadlock Gang to blow up a train and steal something being transported. Simple, especially since Overwatch wasn’t around to meddle anymore, but Elizabeth didn’t like feeling used, but the kind of pay Talon offered was insane. With that kind of pay, Elizabeth could definitely let the gang lay low for a bit and take some personal time to Korea… but she wouldn’t bank on anything until she knew Jesse McCree wasn’t going to stick his nose where it didn’t belong; their Talon liaison already mentioned he interfered in Talon’s last smash and grab, and that, coincidentally, was <em>also</em> on a train. Swiping away from her chat with Hana for now, she taps out a message to McCree, not that he’d answered her since he left for Overwatch.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Don’t do something you regret, Jesse. Overwatch is gone; follow its example and keep clear of me and mine.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Hitting send, she didn’t anticipate a reply, but stared and waiting anyway. She’d sent him more messages than she’d like to admit, and he’d never replied to any. Was the number even his anymore? Thoughts of her former friend bring up unwelcome feelings of regret, anguish, loss. She distracts herself by sitting up, resting her chin on her knees as she stares out the window and tries to admire the blue sky and occasional cloud passing by. Her youth was spent in various estates in various countries in the American South, but Arizona was one of her favorites as far as natural beauty went. She closed her eyes, imagining herself giving Hana a tour of the various places she’d been, watching the girl’s eyes sparkle and a smile split her face —</p><p> </p><p>These feelings weren’t unwelcome, but they were alarming and surprising. Groaning in frustration, she rolls onto her side, pulling the pillow over her head as if to hide from the feelings and people in her life, but even when she drifts off into sleep, her dreams offer no respite from the pressures of the waking world.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Femslash February is upon us again, and we return to the rarepair that is Ashe and D.Va -- this time with more than just a single short story, with any luck.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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